


Mrs. Taylor Lives Forever

by Acernusaurus



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alien Technology Miracle Cure, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family, Terminal Illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24248446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acernusaurus/pseuds/Acernusaurus
Summary: Well, maybe not forever. But when your son and his friends have access to advanced alien technology a little old terminal illness will not be the thing that takes her down.
Relationships: Billy Cranston & Kimberly Hart & Jason Lee Scott & Zack Taylor & Trini, Zack Taylor & Mrs. Taylor
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	Mrs. Taylor Lives Forever

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story because I needed it. I've been through (admittedly skimmed) the whole PR17 tag and could not find more than one or two that came close. If you send me some more I will love you forever.
> 
> I still don't know what I'm doing most of the time. As always let me know if I missed any important tags.

Zack had not left the trailer in at least a week (though he hadn't really been keeping track of the time). Not since his mom had started sleeping through whole days, barely drinking enough water and forcing him to go out for extra Pedialyte just to keep her properly hydrated. Not since the doctor had made his house call and said that their wasn't much more he could do. Not since he had said that Zack's next call should be the hospital. Or Hospice.

The school didn't care that he was absent. They had given him up as a lost cause a long time ago. His friends did care but he knew there was nothing they could do. They made a few trips to the store for him and Zack appreciated it but Zack wasn't eating much more than his mom was these days.

Zack told them that if there was a fight he would be there. But he knew they wouldn't actually call him. They would think his mom was more important, and she was, but the team is too important to let down either. He wanted to fight. He needed something he could beat.

When the four of them show up on his door step bruised and bloody, Zack couldn't help but feel like he let them down. He was ashamed to be the weak link. And he was mad at them for not letting him hit something.

Trini stood in front, her bloody nose looked like it had been broken and reset and her cocky grin was marred by bloody teeth. Billy, Kim, and Jason stood behind her, grim-faced. Kim had a cut on her forehead that was trickling blood into her eye. Billy was holding one arm against his chest carefully. And Jason's face was more of a mottled purple mess then the other three combined.

“What happened to you guys?” Zack asked.

“I won,” was the only explanation Trini gave before pushing past Zack and limping into the trailer on her way to Zack's mom's room.

Jason followed her, pausing only long enough to pat Zack's shoulder as he passed.

“Won what?” Zack asked Kim as he let her and Billy walk past him and closed the door behind them.

“She won the fight over who gets to do this” Kim said, pulling Zack into a quick hug before taking his hand and pulling him into his mother's room so he could see what Trini was doing.

Trini had taken her yellow power coin and placed it into Zack's mother's hand, curling her own hands around it as she spoke some words in Zordon's language. None of them could really understand it yet but sometimes the Ranger tech needed its native tongue to respond correctly. Alpha said their accents were atrocious.

Zack moved forward, maybe to stop her, maybe to get a better idea of what was happening. But he was instantly distracted by the color returning to his mom's gaunt face. She inhaled a deep, raspy breath and a hum shut off in Zack's head as he rushed to her side; practically pushing past Trini as her leg gave out underneath her.

Zack was already reaching for his mom and couldn't catch Trini even if he had noticed in time but Jason was already there and waiting. Trini's skin color had had the opposite reaction to whatever had happened to Zack's mom. She had gone gray, contrasted by the deep purple of her bruises which seemed to have gotten darker if that was possible.

Jason carried Trini out to the Taylor's small couch and Zack could hear Billy rustling around the kitchen for something. Zack was torn but he didn't want to stop gripping tightly to his mother's hand; the one not wrapped around the yellow power coin (which he noticed hadn't yet followed Trini out of the room).

“I'll stay with her if you want to check on Trini,” Kim said gently.

Zack realized he was crying, or close to it, when he choked out the words. “Yeah. Can you hold her for me?" He adjusted to allow Kimberly to take over his hold on his mother's hand. With one more glance at his mother, looking even further from death by the second, Zack followed the others out of the room.

He finally took a moment to register the hum that had gone silent in his head and realized what it was. The connection to the Morphing Grid was always there in the back of his mind but it was almost inaudible now. He knew his suit was still under his skin and he could still feel Kim, Jason, and Billy but they were no longer a complete set.

“What did you do, Crazy Girl?!” Zack asked in a frantic whisper, though he suspected he didn't have to worry about waking his mom up any longer.

“I made your mom a Power Ranger. Duh,” Trini mumbled, wincing with every word.

Zack was, for maybe the first times in his life, at a loss for words and could only gape as he tried to processed what they had done. “Will it work?” he finally asked Jason, the only question he could get out.

“Zordon says yes, as long as we can complete the link.”

“Zordon allowed this?” Zack asked with even more shock. “How does this not break all of the rules.”

“The mission overrules the rules,” Billy said in the voice they all had come to learn meant he was quoting someone. He joined them and gently placed a bag of ice in Trini's hands. She moved it to the ribs on her left side, the movement clearly hurting. Billy continued, “Zordon says that, since our mission is to protect Life, and our families are why we live, then our duty starts with them and radiates out from there. The ship's medical technology could maybe do the job but it stuck on the ship. The only thing we could bring here is our connection to the Grid. And we had to be really sure of our conviction for the coins to be willing to leave us. Even still the coin won't transfer to someone who is...someone who...” Billy glanced at Jason for help on what to say next. The first time he had tried to discuss Mrs. Taylor's illness he had not realized how bluntly he had been speaking. Kimberly had talked him through it after the fact and he understood the punch that Zack had thrown at him but he still was not sure of the best phrasing.

“We had to trick the coins into thinking there was no other choice than to pick a new Ranger and to agree with the Ranger we chose.” Jason continued for him. “If we held onto enough of our own pain in the right way, the coin would accept the transfer as the path of least resistance. So we went down to the Pit and fought each other without our armor until Alpha declared Trini the winner and we left the cave and we came here and...”

“And you guys better go finish the job so it wasn't for nothing,” Trini interrupted. “I'll be fine here. I think I am gonna pass out a little.”

Jason shook his head and said firmly, “There will be no passing out you hear me? That is an order. I hit you in the head pretty hard. You might have a concussion.”

“Yes, sir,” Trini said meekly and that, of all things, shook Zack to his core. Trini did nothing meekly.

“Why didn't you let me be the one to do this?” Zack asked as he followed Jason and Billy back into his mother's room. “It's my right. It's my job.”

Kim stood up from the seat she had taken while keeping her hold on Mrs. Taylor's hand. “She's gonna need your help for this part Zack,” Jason said as Kim passed the hand back to him. Kim reached out to let Billy grab her hand that was now free. Billy took both hers and Jason's hand. Then the three settled behind Zack next to the bed and Jason and Kim each put a hand on Zack's shoulders. “We can't take her to the footprints. She needs you to walk her through it.”

Zack took a few deep breaths to wash away the guilt and anger. They had thought this through completely. And done it all behind his back. He needed to calm down and do his part. They didn't have the eleven days that it took the five of them to figure it out for themselves this time.

“Ma, wake up,” he said quietly in Mandarin. Then he repeated himself in English like she used to make him do when he was a child. He was still a child, though he had been playing dress-up in the real world for a long time. “Ma my friends are here to see you and they need your help.”

His mother didn't open her eyes but her eyelids did flutter and he felt her fingers twitch in his.

“Mama, You remember my friends. They've taken care of us while you've been resting. And they are in danger. I am in danger.” He didn't mention that the danger was of losing her. That it would destroy him, and potentially the rest of them as collateral. “You like Jason and Kim and Billy and Trini. We need your help. We need your armor.” He continued to talk, not entirely sure of what he was saying, but entreating her to help them help her. They had learned the hard way that the Power doesn't care how willing you are to fight. What matters is what you are willing to fight for. Who you are willing to die for. Zack's mom had been fighting for him for a long time, she needed to do it one more time.

Zack started to feel a familiar tickle. The feeling started from the two hands on his shoulders and trickled down his arms. As he watched the familiar black armor reach and cover his fingers there was a momentary pause before a familiar yellow started to make its way up the hands he was holding. It was slow, like their first morph, and he twitched impatiently as he waited for the final feeling of being locked in. The full connection to the morphing grid coming back alive in his brain washed over him. Along with the promise that it was designed to do everything in the Power to keep it's Rangers alive.

The original rangers carefully unclasped their hands. Watching to make sure that Mrs. Taylor's armor remained before letting their own fade away.

“How long will it take?” Zack asked, finally looking away from his mother's masked face and up to Jason. The other boy's bruises had already started turning an ugly healing green after emerging from his own armor, which Zack took as a good omen.

“I don't think there is any way to be sure,” Jason said as he ushered Kim and Billy out of the crowded bedroom. “She's been sick for a long time. I think we'll know when she's ready.”

Zack followed them all out to check on Trini again, who looked very small on his already small couch.

“Not passed out,” Trini mumbled. Zack wondered if she had been saying it like a mantra since they had left the room.

Kim pulled a first aid kit out of her bag and sat down on the couch. She gently lifted Trini's head up so that she could pillow it on Kim's lap and began cleaning the blood off Trini's face. Billy paused with a glance at the chair next to the couch before he did the same as Kim on Trini's other side, lifting the girl's injured leg with his careful touch and propping a pillow under it on his legs to elevate it higher. Kim passed him an ace bandage to wrap around Trini's ankle.

“How do we know this will work?” Zack asked again as he looked over Trini and her injuries once more. Getting cleaned up she looked slightly better but she was still very bruised and pale.

Jason had gotten more ice and handed it off to Billy before lowering himself to the ground in front of the couch, leaning his back against it. “It'll work,” Jason said with that stupid optimism of his. “Alpha said the coins have fixed worse.” 

Zack's frown remained. “We will have to get your coin back to you as soon as we can, Crazy Girl. So it can fix you too.”

“If it will forgive me,” Trini muttered, sounding like she was a little out of it. He frowned harder.

Kim gave an apologetic smile and explained. “Alpha said that coins sometimes don't appreciate being given away.” She brushed her fingers comfortingly through Trini's hair. “It can break the bond permanently.”

“I respect it if its got trust issues,” Trini added. She waved a hand at him as if to say she didn't care.

Jason twisted his arm at a definitely uncomfortable angle and grabbed the waving hand. Trini latched onto the contact with her regular human strength. “You can pass out now if you need to,” Jason said gently.

Zack couldn't take it anymore. He looked at them, at what they had done for him; given up for him, and he couldn't stay in the room. These feelings were too big for him. (Though hiding from Big Feelings had caused him to meet these losers in the first place.) But he couldn't run away this time like he usually did. He backed away back into his mother's room. Sitting by her side, gripping her armored hand, and watching her heal gave him an anchor to hang from. They let him go because they knew he needed it.

* * *

Zack slept curled uncomfortably at his mothers side. When he woke up and went out to make breakfast he found his friends in exactly the same position he had left them in, though someone had spread a blanket out to cover Trini and whoever was close enough to share it. Jason's arm was even still twisted behind his back, still gripping Trini's hand.

None of them moved until he came back from the kitchen juggling four plates of slightly burnt scrambled eggs and a bottle of ketchup. He wished he hadn't messed up the eggs but he wasn't used to cooking for more than two people. His friends didn't complain though. After they woke up and stretched from their awkward positions they all dug in. The three Rangers only waiting long enough to help Trini sit up in a position her injuries would allow. Even then, Trini couldn't comfortably eat with her plate in her lap so Billy ended up holding it up with one hand while balancing his own plate on his knees.

The group spent the whole day like that. Huddled around Trini. Letting her sleep, watching stupid Youtube videos or reading to her from some of Mrs. Taylor's book collection. They always made sure someone was by her side. If Trini needed to move around the house someone would pick her up, though it took them a few tries to find a way that wouldn't hurt for her. She protested at first but when she had tried to walk herself she hadn't made it very far.

No one really wanted to leave the group but they each also took a turn sitting by Mrs. Taylor's side as well. And Kim and Billy went out once to get some groceries. Jason made lunch, Billy made dinner, and Trini told everyone to dip some chocolate chip cookies in vanilla sprinkle frosting and called it dessert.

The next day was much the same with little to no change though they were all starting to feel cooped up in the small house. Billy especially had to spend some stretches of time away from the crowded space but he didn't go farther that the Taylor's broke down lawn chairs right outside. They all took a break at some point but neither Trini or Mrs. Taylor were ever left alone.

When Zack sat with Trini he couldn't help cataloging her injuries. And he couldn't help think about what the future would like be if Trini never got her powers back. They would have to explain her injuries to her parents first of all. And they would see each other less without training together. But Zack decided he would take her on runs so she could feel the wind again, his long legs hopefully making up for her speed that he could never match. He just knew Kim would find a way to take her flying in the Pterazord. Billy would build her a panic room that Jason could lock her in when there was an alien attack. They would all try to make sure she stayed in the group, no matter how much she would probably try to make them leave her behind. 

And Zack's mom would be an amazing Power Ranger but she would probably pass the power on herself. She had faced enough death for one lifetime, Zack would never ask her to face more. But she would know everything now. And she would be alive.

* * *

The day after that Zack finally caught sight of the calendar on his phone around lunchtime and realized that it was Wednesday; the middle of the school week.

Someone would tell him later what had happened. That Billy told his mom that the four of them would be skipping school to sit with Zack with or without permission. That Mrs. Cranston, with all the fury and poise of a mother who has done her best to get her neurodivergent son the help he needs to make it through the hell that is the American public school system, had marched into the Principal's office and told him in no uncertain terms that all five kids would not be in school as long as the Taylor family needed them. And that they (and Zack) would face no repercussions for _any_ recent absences. The Principal was already terrified of her so it probably wasn't a fair fight. And when Mrs. Kwan, Mr. Hart, and Mr. Scott also got involved it was definitely a massacre.

Even before he found out though Zack was hit by another wave of Big Feelings that almost had him out the door and halfway to Nevada. The only thing that stopped him was the knowledge that his house would burn down if he abandoned the grilled cheeses on the stove that he was currently watching.

* * *

Trini's bruises finally started turning an uglier color by Thursday so Zack knew she was finally healing the slow human way. All evidence of the fighting had healed from their friends faces two days before.

The three other rangers were on the couch with Trini this time, with her draped over all of their laps. Her shoulders were propped on Jason as he held a phone up for them all to see the movie they were watching. Kim was in the middle under Trini's knees and Billy was once again elevating Trini's ankle with a couple of pillows on his lap. Zack was in the chair off to the side where he could still see the movie if he wanted to. Trini had complained that she would never be able to sleep lying on all of their bony knees but she had started dozing almost immediately.

A thump came from Mrs. Taylor's bedroom.

Normally that would have had Zack jumping up but he and his friends simply froze and stared toward the door as it opened. It took him a second to remember that it wasn't Trini that was coming out of his mother's room. Trini's gasp reminded him and Zack realized that none of them had ever seen their own armor outside of pictures. He was almost jealous.

The Yellow Ranger looked around at the five of them. And at the living room that she hadn't had the energy to visit for months. At the sun streaming in their small windows. At the mess five teenagers had left all over her coffee table.

Zack was scared that if he moved at all then he would wake up. That he had obviously fallen asleep during the movie.

The Yellow Ranger rounded the coffee table and knelt in front of Trini. Trini reached out her hand to touch her helmet, maybe unconsciously. But the Ranger took the hand in her own instead. “I don't think I could possibly thank you,” the altered voice said.

Zack watch as the armor pulled away towards the joined hands. Flowing across the shoulders, down the arms and into the power coin now resting back in Trini's hand. It didn't stop there though, traveling up again on Trini's own arms just a little. Welcoming her back.

Trini huffed a gentle sob and hugged her coin close. Honestly they all were crying at this point and the rangers on the couch took a moment to hug Trini as tight as they could. Now that she wouldn't be hurt by it.

Zack was still hesitant about breaking the spell of the dream but he finally look over at his mother, standing completely on her own power. He had been taller than her for years but he had forgotten how tall she herself stood, in presence if not stature. In seconds he was in her arms, waking up be damned.

His mother hugged him back just as fiercely, Billy was clapping, Jason's laugh was edging on hysterical.

After they and all finished crying and a final round of hugs for everyone, the rangers set Zack and his mother on the couch together to talk while they all set about making a proper dinner. Their cooking styles and skill levels really didn't mesh well but they managed to pull together something halfway decent.

* * *

Mrs. Taylor slept that night on the couch next to the five teenagers who lay in an exhausted heap on the floor. No one wanted to go very far just yet. The next day Zack made his mother a breakfast of her favorite pancakes and the fancy tea from the back of the cabinet. They sat her outside on the rickety lawn furniture while the rest of them got started on cleaning up to house. The place was small but certain parts had been neglected for a very long time. His friends did their best but some things Zack needed to be there to help with. Each time Zack went back to check on his mother he found that one of his friends had already beaten him to it. They had spent some time with her before her health took its turn but not enough to get to know her. And not enough for her to get to really know them. Since she knew the secret now as well there was even more for them all to discuss.

His friends spent one more night in the house but began trickling out the next morning. Billy left first, he could hardly wait to tell his mom the good news in person. Trini and Jason did one more large grocery run. After everything was put away Jason brought the girls home but came back for a moment to make sure the Taylor's were settled. Zack gave Jason one more bone crunching hug like he had for all of the others.

* * *

The doctor had told Zack that he shouldn't call so Zack just...didn't. The Taylor's instead spent time rebuilding their lives. Mrs. Taylor went back to work and by the time her doctors found out about her miraculous recovery it much too late for them to do anything about it and she refuse to let them study her. All they could do was call it a miracle.

When Zack returned to training at the ship he swung Alpha around joyously and dove headfirst into the pin cushion that was Zordon's face. It was actually a surprisingly comfortable hug, though the wall was very gruff and awkward afterwards.

Trini knocked Zack on his ass multiple times in the Pit before doing a back handspring just because she could. Zack loved every minute of it.


End file.
